Finding lost shares?

neilandvicky

Hello. hope some can help. My elderly grandmother called me this afternoon to say that she had recieved a letter from a company saying that they could trace some lost shares of hers for a 15% fee. The company - Capita Heartshead , has an honest looking website (well it would of course). Has anyone used the company before? are they legit? Is there a way for my grandmother to find these lost shares without having to fork out any money?

many thanks , neil

Ifts

Was the name of the company Capita Heartshead or Capita Hartshead?

If its Capita Hartshead, then this link might be of help to you:

http://www.capitatracing.co.uk/individuals/Have-we-contacted-you.htm

On this page is a list of some of the clients that Capita Hartshead are currently working for, and are trying to contact the shareholders/policyholders on behalf of these organisations who they have lost touch with. The names on the list may remind your grandmother or anybody else who might know what company they are trying to contact you on behalf of.

ses6jwg

Capita Hartshead must be a genuine company as they are administrators for my company pension scheme.

barak

neilandvicky wrote: »

Hello. hope some can help. My elderly grandmother called me this afternoon to say that she had recieved a letter from a company saying that they could trace some lost shares of hers for a 15% fee. The company - Capita Heartshead , has an honest looking website (well it would of course). Has anyone used the company before? are they legit? Is there a way for my grandmother to find these lost shares without having to fork out any money?

many thanks , neil

Does your grandmother or anybody else have any idea which company[ies] she may have held shares in? If so, there are fairly simple ways of finding out whether she still holds shares in those companies without it costing anything at all.

neilandvicky

Many thanks for the replies. We have arranged to visit this weekend and go through ( or start going through) all her paperwork. lucky in some respects that she is quite an organised hoarder and never throws anything away.

will come back with a post when we have some more info.

many thanks Neil

barak

neilandvicky wrote: »

Many thanks for the replies. We have arranged to visit this weekend and go through ( or start going through) all her paperwork. lucky in some respects that she is quite an organised hoarder and never throws anything away.

will come back with a post when we have some more info.

many thanks Neil

You will know whether this is a possibility, but did your grandmother perhaps change her address at some time without informing the company's registrar? In that case the company would have lost touch with her, leading to an attempt to trace her resulting in the letter she has received. If any shares are still registered at an old address, you would need that address and postcode to try to trace any existing shareholding.

If you find any old dividend Tax Vouchers they will show a Shareholder Reference which would be a great help however old they are!

oldtoolie

If they ask for money up-front, run away.

neilandvicky

Just had a look at the letter. it appears to be genuine and is written by capita hartshead on behalf of scottish and southern energy (SSE). It appears that they think Hazel (my grandmother) could have £972 of unclaimed dividends. And that they will process the claim for 15% 0f the dividend + vat. Could I write to SSE s company registra and see if there are any dividends owing, or is there another way to progress the claim. I feel a little twinge of guilt at by-passing the claims company ( as without them we would not know she had some money owing) but £200 is worth a lot more to her than it is to them!

any advice appreciated. Neil

[Deleted User]

Hi,

seems that Capita are Registrars for SSE, Capita Hartshead seem to be doing the leg work in tracing investors with unclaimed dividends.

Dig out whatever paperwork, if any, and give them a call.

Link.

barak

[Deleted User] wrote:

.....Capita are Registrars for SSE.....give them a call.

...on that 0845 number or else on 020 8639 3367 if that's cheaper for you.

barak

Neil - Not sure what you've done yet, but assuming that your grandmother did move without informing the Registrar, the first thing I would do is to get her to send a change of address form to Capita and then wait and see what happens. Capita may then respond without involving Capita Hartshead. Here is the downloadable form.

http://www.capitaregistrars.com/media/Change_of_Address_Form.pdf